37th Palm Springs International Film Festival

37th Palm Springs International Film Festival

Official poster
Opening film	Calle Málaga
Closing film	Glenrothan
Location	Palm Springs, California, United States
Hosted by	The Palm Springs International Film Society
Artistic director	Lili Rodriguez
No. of films	168 films from 72 countries
Festival date	Opening: 2 January 2026 (2026-01-02) Closing: 12 January 2026 (2026-01-12)
Website	www.psfilmfest.org
Palm Springs International Film Festival
2027 2025

The 37th Palm Springs International Film Festival will take place from January 2 to 12, 2026, in Palm Springs, California, United States. The festival will open with Maryam Touzani's Spanish drama film Calle Malaga . This edition of the festival will present 168 films from 72 countries, including 53 premieres and 44 Oscar Submissions. It will close with Brian Cox's British drama film Glenrothan . ^{[1] [2]}

Festival venues

The following are festival venues for screening films: ^[3]

• Annenberg Theater
• The Plaza Theatre, South Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs, California
• ARCO Theatre (Palm Canyon Theatre)
• Festival Theaters
• Palm Springs Cultural Center (Camelot Theatre)
• Richards Center for the Arts at Palm Springs High School
• Mary Pickford is D'Place
• Cinemark Century La Quinta and XD

Juries

The juries consists of the following members:

FIPRESCI International Film Jury

• Davide Abbatescianni, Italian film critic and journalist
• Pat Mullen, Canadian film critic and publisher
• Fran Romero, Chilean film critic and sociologist

Ibero-American Jury

TBA

Documentary Jury

TBA

New Voices New Visions

TBA

Official selection

This edition will showcase 168 films from 72 countries. ^{[4] [5]}

Opening and closing films

The opening and closing films of the festival are: ^[6]

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Opening film
Calle Málaga		Maryam Touzani	Morocco, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium
Closing film
Glenrothan		Brian Cox	United Kingdom

Awards Buzz – Best International Feature Films

The following section consists of submissions for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards: ^[7]

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Submission countrie(s)
100 Litres of Gold		Teemu Nikki	Finland
2000 Meters to Andriivka		Mstyslav Chernov	Ukraine
All That's Left of You	اللي باقي منك	Cherien Dabis	Jordan
Belén		Dolores Fonzi	Argentina
Beloved Tropic	Querido trópico	Ana Endara	Panama
Eagles of the Republic		Tarik Saleh	Sweden
Familia		Francesco Costabile	Italy
Father	Otec	Tereza Nvotová	Slovakia
Franz		Agnieszka Holland	Poland
Happy Birthday	هابي بيرث داي	Sarah Goher	Egypt
Hijra	هجری	Shahad Ameen	Saudi Arabia
Homebound		Neeraj Ghaywan	India
It Was Just an Accident	یک تصادف ساده	Jafar Panahi	France
Kokuho	国宝	Lee Sang-il	Japan
The Last Dance	破．地獄	Anselm Chan Mou Yin	Hong Kong
Late Shift	Heldin	Petra Volpe	Switzerland
Left-Handed Girl	左撇子女孩	Shih-Ching Tsou	Taiwan
Little Trouble Girls	Kaj ti je deklica	Urška Djukić	Slovenia
The Love That Remains	Ástin Sem Eftir Er	Hlynur Pálmason	Iceland
Magellan	Magalhães	Lav Diaz	Philippines
Mr. Nobody Against Putin		David Borenstein  ( wd )	Denmark
My Father's Shadow		Akinola Davies Jr.	United Kingdom
The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo	La misteriosa mirada del flamenco	Diego Céspedes	Chile
No Other Choice	어쩔수가없다	Park Chan-wook	South Korea
Orphan	Árva	László Nemes	Hungary
Palestine 36		Annemarie Jacir	Palestine
A Poet	Un Poeta	Simón Mesa Soto	Colombia
The President's Cake	مملكة القصب	Hasan Hadi	Iraq
Reedland	Rietland	Sven Bresser	Netherlands
A Sad and Beautiful World	نجوم الأمل و الألم	Cyril Aris	Lebanon
The Sea	הים	Shai Carmeli-Pollak	Israel
The Secret Agent	O Agente Secreto	Kleber Mendonça Filho	Brazil
Sirāt		Oliver Laxe	Spain
Sound of Falling	In die Sonne schauen	Mascha Schilinski	Germany
The Tale of Silyan	Силјан	Tamara Kotevska	North Macedonia
The Things You Kill		Alireza Khatami	Canada
The Tower of Strength	Obraz	Nikola Vukčević	Montenegro
Traffic	Reostat	Teodora Ana Mihai	Romania
Under the Flags, the Sun	Bajo las banderas, el sol	Juanjo Pereira	Paraguay
A Useful Ghost	ผีใช้ได้ค่ะ	Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke	Thailand
The Voice of Hind Rajab	صوت هند رجب	Kaouther Ben Hania	Tunisia
Young Mothers	Jeunes mères	Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne	Belgium

After Dark

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
The Book of Sijjin & Illiyyin		Hadrah Daeng Ratu	Indonesia
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die		Gore Verbinski	United States, Germany, South Africa
Mārama		Taratoa Stappard	New Zealand
The Plague		Charlie Polinger	Romania, United States

American Indies

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the American Indies section:

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Burt		Joe Burke	United States
Fantasy Life		Matthew Shear
Honeyjoon		Lilian T. Mehrel	United States, Portugal
Idiotka		Nastasya Popov	United States
She Dances		Rick Gomez
Tow		Stephanie Laing

Close-Ups

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Close-Ups section:

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Boorman and the Devil		David Kittredge	United States
Coroner to Stars		Ben Hethcoat, Keita Ideno
The Eyes of Ghana		Ben Proudfoot	United States
Kim Novak's Vertigo		Alexandre O. Philippe	United States
Third Act		Tadashi Nakamura

Country Focus

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Country Focus section:

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Amrum		Fatih Akin	Germany
A Land Within	Zweitland	Michael Kofler	Germany, Italy, Austria
Islands		Jan-Ole Gerster	Germany
Miroirs No. 3		Christian Petzold
Silent Friend	Stille Freundin	Ildikó Enyedi	Germany, France, Hungary
Stars (1959)	Sterne	Konrad Wolf	East Germany, Bulgaria
What Marielle Knows	Was Marielle weiß	Frédéric Hambalek	Germany

Family Day

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Family Day section:

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Arco		Ugo Bienvenu	France
KPop Demon Hunters		Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans	United States
Zootopia 2		Jared Bush, Byron Howard	United States

Gateway Cinema

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Gateway Cinema section:

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)		Howard Hawks	United States
Casablanca (1942)		Michael Curtiz	United States
Fire (1996)		Deepa Mehta	India
In the Mood for Love (2000)	花樣年華	Wong Kar-wai	Hong Kong, France
Medea (1988)		Lars von Trier	Denmark

Local Spotlight

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Local Spotlight section:

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Ramona and the Ballad of Juan Diego		Jason Sklaver	United States

Modern Masters

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Modern Masters section:

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Below the Clouds	Sotto le nuvole	Gianfranco Rosi	Italy
The Captive	El cautivo	Alejandro Amenábar	Spain, Italy
Cover-Up		Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus	United States
Dreams		Michel Franco	Mexico, United States
Hen	Kota	György Pálfi	Germany, Greece, Hungary
The Last Viking	Den Sidste Viking	Anders Thomas Jensen	Denmark, Sweden
A Magnificent Life	Marcel et Monsieur Pagnol	Sylvain Chomet	France, Canada, Belgium, Luxembourg, United States
Orwell: 2+2=5		Raoul Peck	France, United States
The Soundman		Frank Van Passel	Belgium,Netherlands, Denmark
Two Prosecutors	Два прокурора	Sergei Loznitsa	Latvia, France, Germany, Netherlands, Romania, Lithuania
Yes!	כן!	Nadav Lapid	Israel, France, Germany, Cyprus, United Kingdom

New Voices New Visions

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the New Voices New Visions competition:

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Broken Voices	Sbormistr	Ondřej Provazník	Czech Republic, Slovakia
Deaf	Sorda	Eva Libertad	Spain
God Will Not Help	Bog Neće Pomoći	Hana Jušić	Croatia, Italy, Romania, Greece, France, Slovenia
Lucky Lu		Lloyd Lee Choi	United States, Canada
Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo)		Joel Alfonso Vargas	United States
The Nature of Invisible Things	A natureza das coisas invisíveis	Rafaela Camelo	Brazil, Chile
The Negotiator		Alessandro Tonda	Italy
On the Sea		Helen Walsh	United Kingdom
Silent Rebellion	À bras-le-corps	Marie-Elsa Sgualdo	Switzerland, Belgium, France

Queer Cinema Today & The Gayla

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Queer Cinema Today section and The Gayla:

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
3670		Park Joon-ho	South Korea
Dope Queens		Grafton Doyle	United States
Drunken Noodles		Lucio Castro	United States, Argentina
Jimpa		Sophie Hyde	Australia, Netherlands, Finland
The Little Sister	La Petite Dernière	Hafsia Herzi	France, Germany
Manok	이반리 장만옥	Lee Yu-jin	South Korea
Maspalomas		Jose Mari Goenaga  ( eu ), Aitor Arregi	Spain
State of Firsts		Chase Joynt	United States
We Are Pat		Ro Haber	United States

Special Presentations

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Special Presentations section:

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Dead Man's Wire		Gus Van Sant	United States
Hamlet		Aneil Karia	United States, United Kingdom
The Housemaid		Paul Feig	United States
I Swear		Kirk Jones	Scotland
Vertigo (1958)		Alfred Hitchcock	United States

Talking Pictures

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Talking Pictures section:

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Blue Moon		Richard Linklater	United States, Ireland
Frankenstein		Guillermo del Toro	United States
Hamnet		Chloé Zhao	United Kingdom, United States
King Hamlet		Elvira Lind	United States, Denmark
The Librarians	Kim A. Snyder	United States
Nuremberg		James Vanderbilt	United States
One Battle After Another		Paul Thomas Anderson	United States
Sentimental Value	Affeksjonsverdi	Joachim Trier	Norway, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, United Kingdom
The Testament of Ann Lee		Mona Fastvold	United Kingdom, United States
Train Dreams		Clint Bentley	United States
Wicked: For Good		Jon M. Chu	United States

True Stories

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the True Stories section:

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Adaptation to Darkness	הסתגלות לאפלה	Shay Fogelman	Israel
ASCO: Without Permission		Travis Gutiérrez Senger	United States, United Kingdom
Ask E. Jean		Ivy Meeropol	United States
The Gas Station Attendant		Karla Murthy	United States
Modern Whore		Nicole Bazuin	Canada
Natchez		Suzannah Herbert	United States
Speak		Jennifer Tiexiera, Guy Mossman  ( wd )	United States
Steal This Story, Please!		Tia Lessin and Carl Deal	United States
Whistle		Christopher Nelius	Australia
Yanuni		Richard Ladkani	Austria, Brazil, USA, Canada, Germany

World Cinema Now

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the World Cinema Now section:

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Production countrie(s)
Altar Boys	Ministranci	Piotr Domalewski	Poland
The Battle of Oslo	Blücher	Daniel Fahre	Norway
Beginnings	Begyndelser	Jeanette Nordahl	Denmark
The Blue Trail	O Último Azul	Gabriel Mascaro	Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Netherlands
Colours of Time	La Venue de l'avenir	Cédric Klapisch	France, Belgium
The Condor Daughter	La Hija Cóndor	Álvaro Olmos Torrico	Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay
Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t	Come ti muovi, sbagli	Gianni Di Gregorio	Italy, France
Frontier	Frontera	Judith Colell	Spain, Belgium
Fuze		David Mackenzie	United Kingdom
Gustaakh Ishq	Gustaakh Ishq: Kuch Pehle Jaisa	Vibhu Puri	India
H Is for Hawk		Philippa Lowthorpe	United Kingdom, United States
Hello Betty	Hallo Betty	Pierre Monnard	Switzerland
It Would Be Night in Caracas	La Hija de la Española	Mariana Rondón, Marité Ugás	Mexico
Ky Nam Inn	Quán Kỳ Nam	Leon Le	Vietnam
Lovely Day	Mille secrets mille dangers	Philippe Falardeau	Canada
Made in EU		Stephan Komandarev	Bulgaria, Germany, Czech Republic
Meadowlarks		Tasha Hubbard	Canada
Mr Burton		Marc Evans	United Kingdom
No Comment	Ingen Kommentar	Petter Næss	Norway
Once Upon My Mother	Ma mère, Dieu et Sylvie Vartan	Ken Scott	Canada, France
The Party's Over!	Classe moyenne	Antony Cordier	France
Primavera		Damiano Michieletto	Italy, France
A Private Life	Vie privée	Rebecca Zlotowski	France
Project Y	프로젝트 Y	Lee Hwan	South Korea
Promised Sky	Promis le ciel	Erige Sehiri	Tunisia, France, Netherlands, Qatar
Renoir	ルノワール	Chie Hayakawa	Japan, France, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Qatar
The Richest Woman in the World	La Femme la plus riche du monde	Thierry Klifa	France
Saipan		Lisa Barros D'Sa, Glenn Leyburn	Ireland, United Kingdom
Spit		Jonathan Teplitzky	Australia
Sundays	Los domingos	Alauda Ruiz de Azúa	Spain, France
The Sun Rises on Us All	日掛中天	Cai Shangjun	China
To the Victory!	За Перемогу!	Valentyn Vasyanovych	Ukraine, Lithuania
Two Pianos	Deux Pianos	Arnaud Desplechin	France
Youngblood		Hubert Davis	Canada

Awards

Opening Gala Awards

Adam Sandler recipient of Chairman's Award

The following awards were presented to honor the performance of actors, directors and producers during 2025 at Opening Gala on January 3, 2026. ^[8]

• Vanguard Award: Hamnet (Chloé Zhao, Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal) ^[9]
• Icon Award Actor: Michael B. Jordan, American actor, producer, and director for Sinners ^[10]
• Icon Award Actress: Kate Hudson, American actress and singer-songwriter for Song Sung Blue ^[11]
• Chairman's Award: Adam Sandler for Jay Kelly ^[12]
• Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress: Amanda Seyfried for The Testament of Ann Lee ^[13]
• Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio for One Battle After Another ^[14]
• Career Achievement Award: Ethan Hawke, American actor, author and film director ^[15]
• International Star Award: The award will be presented to an ensemble of Sentimental Value , Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Elle Fanning.
• Visionary Award: Guillermo del Toro and cast (Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth) for Frankenstein ^[16]
• Breakthrough Performance Award: Rose Byrne, Australian actress and executive producer, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You ^[17]
• Spotlight Award: Timothée Chalamet, Actor and producer for Marty Supreme ^[18]
• Outstanding Artistic Achievement Award: Miley Cyrus, American singer, songwriter, and actress for "Dream as One" in Avatar: Fire and Ash ^{[19] [20]}

Creative Impact Awards

The following creative impact awards were presented by the Variety, an American trade magazine:

• Creative Impact in Acting Award: Dwayne Johnson, American actor and professional wrestler for The Smashing Machine ^[21]
• Creative Impact in Breakthrough Performance Award: Teyana Taylor, American singer, songwriter, actress, model, dancer, choreographer, and music video director for One Battle After Another ^[22]
• Creative Impact in Directing Award: Guillermo del Toro, Mexican filmmaker, author, and artist for Frankenstein ^[23]

Variety's 10 Directors to Watch

This year's list has American-made and international directors consisting of following: ^[24]

• Akinola Davies Jr. for My Father's Shadow
• Beth de Araújo for Josephine
• Jan-Ole Gerster for Islands
• Sarah Goher for Happy Birthday
• Dave Green for Coyote vs. Acme
• Chandler Levack for Mile End Kicks
• Harry Lighton for Pillion
• NB Mager for Run Amok (film)
• Kristen Stewart for The Chronology of Water
• Walter Thompson-Hernández for If I Go Will They Miss Me

References

1. McGowan, Andrew (December 2, 2025). "'Calle Malaga' and 'Glenrothan' to Bookend 2026 Palm Springs International Film Festival". Variety . Retrieved December 4, 2025.
2. McNiece, Mia (December 4, 2025). "Palm Springs Film Festival Announces 2026 Lineup". Gold Derby . Retrieved December 7, 2025.
3. "Awards Buzz – Best International Feature Film". Palm Springs International Film Festival . December 2, 2025. Retrieved December 4, 2025.
4. Abbatescianni, Davide (December 3, 2025). "European Film Awards and Oscars contenders heading to the 37th Palm Springs International Film Festival". Cineuropa . Retrieved December 4, 2025.
5. Reyes, Jesus (December 2, 2025). "Palm Springs International Film Festival announces lineup of 168 films". KESQ News Channel 3 . Retrieved December 4, 2025.
6. Chris Gardner (December 2, 2025). "Maryam Touzani's 'Calle Malaga' to Open and Brian Cox's 'Glenrothan' to Close Palm Springs Film Fest". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved December 4, 2025.
7. "Awards Buzz – Best International Feature Film". Palm Springs International Film Festival . December 2, 2025. Retrieved December 4, 2025.
8. Pedersen, Erik (December 1, 2025). "Palm Springs Film Festival Awards: Amanda Seyfried To Receive Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress". Deadline . Retrieved December 4, 2025.
9. Pedersen, Erik (November 20, 2025). "Chloé Zhao's 'Hamnet' Set For Palm Springs Film Festival's 2026 Vanguard Award". Deadline . Retrieved December 4, 2025.
10. Verhoeven, Beatrice (November 11, 2025). "'Sinners' Star Michael B. Jordan to Receive Icon Award at Palm Springs International Film Festival". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved December 4, 2025.
11. Pedersen, Erik (December 9, 2025). "Palm Springs Film Festival Awards: Kate Hudson To Receive Icon Award, Actress". Deadline . Retrieved December 10, 2025.
12. Verhoeven, Beatrice (November 7, 2025). "'Jay Kelly' Star Adam Sandler to Receive Chairman's Award at Palm Springs International Film Festival". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved December 4, 2025.
13. Mendoza, Leia (December 4, 2025). "Amanda Seyfried to Be Honored With Desert Palm Actress Prize at Palm Springs International Film Awards (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety . Retrieved December 1, 2025.
14. Pedersen, Erik (November 18, 2025). "Leonardo DiCaprio Set for Palm Springs Film Festival's Desert Palm Achievement Award". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved December 4, 2025.
15. Verhoeven, Beatrice (November 24, 2025). "Ethan Hawke to Receive Career Achievement Award at Palm Springs International Film Festival (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved December 4, 2025.
16. Pedersen, Erik (December 4, 2025). "'Frankenstein' Director & Stars Set For Visionary Award From Palm Springs Film Festival". Deadline . Retrieved December 6, 2025.
17. Verhoeven, Beatrice (December 10, 2025). "Rose Byrne to Receive Breakthrough Performance Award at Palm Springs International Film Festival (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 10, 2025.
18. Verhoeven, Beatrice (December 11, 2025). "Timothée Chalamet to Receive Spotlight Actor of the Year Award at Palm Springs International Film Festival)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 11, 2025.
19. McGovern, Joe (December 19, 2025). "Miley Cyrus to Receive Outstanding Artistic Achievement Award at Palm Springs Film Fest". TheWrap . Retrieved December 20, 2025.
20. Sasic, Ema (December 19, 2025). "Miley Cyrus to receive Palm Springs film award for 'Avatar' song". The Desert Sun . Retrieved December 20, 2025.
21. William Earl (December 11, 2025). "Dwayne Johnson to Be Honored With Creative Impact in Acting Award From Variety at 2026 Palm Springs Film Festival". Variety . Retrieved December 12, 2025.
22. William Earl (December 10, 2025). "Teyana Taylor to Receive Creative Impact in Breakthrough Performance Award From Variety at 2026 Palm Springs Film Festival". Variety . Retrieved December 13, 2025.
23. William Earl (December 16, 2025). "Guillermo del Toro Set to Receive the Creative Impact in Directing Award from Variety at Palm Springs International Film Festival 2026". Variety . Retrieved December 17, 2025.
24. Debruge, Peter (December 4, 2025). "Variety's 10 Directors to Watch for 2026: Kristen Stewart, Harry Lighton and Dave Green Among Honorees". Variety . Retrieved December 13, 2025.

External links

• Official website
• 37th Palm Springs International Film Festival at IMDb